Blockchain Technology in Education Management Information System: Concepts, Basic Terminologies and Emerging Potentials

Abstract

Blockchain technology has moved beyond its origins in digital currencies to become a transformative tool across diverse sectors, including education. It offers unique opportunities for managing, securing, and sharing information. Within the educational setting, these attributes present innovative pathways for addressing long-standing challenges related to record-keeping, credential verification, data integrity, and trust in institutional processes. The system operates in ways that once a transaction has been effected and registered by the block, it becomes very difficult to change or tamper with. Exploring the Blockchain Technology innovation in the area of education management information systems would enhance better performance of the system. The paper argued that Blockchain Technology (BT), being decentralised, was designed to prevent a monopoly of decision-making. It uses a peer-to-peer (P2P) network where everyone is allowed to partake. It was argued that if anyone creates a new block, every participant in the block should agree with the transaction within the block chain to be considered valid. If any transaction goes off the rails, the entire block is invalidated, thus rejecting the transaction. The terminology explained includes 'peer to peer', 'cryptography', 'proof of work', 'consensus algorithm', 'punishment' and 'rewards' as used in Blockchain. The emerging potentials of the Blockchain technology in education management information systems was discussed, while suggestions such as a close study of existing university use cases should be done with a view to importing valuable lessons into the global education management information system.